As the saying goes, when something happens only "once in a blue moon", it is commonly understood that it does not happen very often. But how often (or rare) is the occurrence anyway? Let's briefly look at some simple numbers.
The moon orbits on its axis around the earth approximately every 29.5 days, meaning at either side of that 29.5 day period we will experience a full moon (The full moon occurs on different days across the globe from the standpoint of perspective. I felt I should point that out to potentially eliminate confusion. Basically, people in Australia will not experience a full moon on the same night as people in England). Each month has an average 30.5 days. By quickly observing that 29.5 < 30.5, we can come to the conclusion that it is in fact possible for there to be two full moons in a particular month. Typically throughout the calendar year, there are 12 full moons. A blue moon is the occurrence of a 13th full moon, the second in a given month.
So what is so special about a blue moon?
Well, actually nothing really. It is just a second occurrence of a full moon in a calendar month. The amount of time between blue moons is approximately 2.5 years. That means the saying "Once in a blue moon" means "about once every 2.5 years".
Will the moon actually turn the color blue?
Blood moons are hauntingly red/orange, however Blue moons are not typically blue. They are just normal full moons. It is possible though that from your vantage point the moon appears blue depending on numerous atmospheric factors including temperature and atmospheric moisture, however it is not very likely that the moon will hold a strictly blue coloration. On the contrary, because of how much moisture there is in the atmosphere right now here in NC, it is more likely that as the moon gets down on the horizon it will be more of an orange-yellow than a blue. If it does appear blue from where you are, please send me pictures so I can post them!
That's all I have for now. I will be helping out with band camp this next week at my high school before starting my band camp with the Power Sound of the South Marching Band at NC State, but coming back into August now I will be posting from Facebook daily with at least a blog post each week for game days and possibly more often depending on how incredibly interesting the weather is. For now, get ready for the not-so-spectacular-but-actually-spectacular blue moon!
Picture:
- http://mysticinvestigations.com/supernatural/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/blue-moon-werewolves.jpg
Information:
- http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/blue-moon-makes-fridays-moon-special/story?id=32789558
- http://news.discovery.com/space/astronomy/once-in-a-blue-moon-happens-on-friday-why-150730.htm
